Road Trip Post #1

Well our road trip started with a journey to Jasper. Seeing as the hotels in the Jasper area were quite outrageous, we decided to camp out for the evening. When i say camping, just a tent and sleeping bags; no stove or food! Anyways, the night got a little chillier during the evening and we did not have a sleeping bag for Ethan (I only had a liner...what was I thinking). Anyways, in the morning, Ethan woke up with a very runny nose. To this date he is still has snot coming out of the nose!

Anyways, after we pack up, we went for a leisurely stroll on the paddleboats at Jasper Park Lodge. This was Ethan's first time on one and it seemed like he enjoyed it. (Videos to follow). Once we finished we made our way to Kamloops, BC where we met up with some friends and stayed the night. Since it was 37 degrees out, we decided to hit the pool and then enjoy some food (BP's feeds your kids for free if you purchase a meal over $10!).

The next day we we're off to Vancouver on a very quick drive through the Coquihalla Highway. we were flying on the #5 until we hit the Trans Canada where things slowed down considerably. Nonetheless, we made it in good time.

While in Vancouver, we met up with friends and ate, went walking in the parks and playgrounds, walked along 4th Ave, and Granville Island. We did not cook at home until tonight when it finally cooled down enough inside the condo to actually use the stove and oven.

Ethan has been cranky the past week. I don't blame him as he does not have his own bed to sleep in. So far since we have left Edmonton, he has not slept in a playpen. he has been sleeping with me or Wackie on the bed. In Vancouver, he's been sleeping only with mommy since the bed is not big enough for the three of us! He has also been constipated for the past week and has only passed three times! we have been trying to get him to drink prune juice which is helping a bit. Hopefully he gets better so he is in a better mood...

As for me, we started the WPFG and we are 3-1 in football. We are seeded 4th and will be playing the quarter finals tomorrow. If we win, we move on otherwise we are out! Lot of injuries on the team so hopefully we can stick it out for a few more games.

We will be heading to Seattle on Sunday (the lastest) and I booked a hotel for $80 via Priceline. It is the hotel across from Safeco Field and the pool is on the top of the hotel overlooking the city and Safeco. Sweet! Will be looking into hotels for Portland and Spokane soon!

Well that's about it for now! Catch you up later!

Very Eventful May

We had such a busy May that I am not surprised we are already into June. May started off with a trip down to Calgary to visit friends and a day out with Thomas the train. We had a lot of fun hanging out at Heritage Park. We got to meet Sir Topham Hat and Thomas! We even got to ride in the train that Thomas pulled. It was great! The park was busy with lots of little boys and the few sisters that got dragged along :) Ethan had a great time playing with all the different trains and watching Thomas go by. His love for Thomas has grown since our visit, and now so has his collection...
Wackie and I then headed out to Vancouver for a retreat for a weekend, and the best part was meeting up with family and spending Mother's Day with Mom eating at a all you can eat Japanese resturant. We ate till we were full! Ethan stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa's house and did really well. I think the Grandparents needed a good break after that weekend though. He is one busy boy.
We then had my cousins come out for a visit and it was great spending time with them. The 2 little boys spent an afternoon at Galaxyland and I think they both quite enjoyed each other's company.
My Dad also turned 60 years old this past month, so a dinner out for steak was the way we celebrated. Happy Birthday Dad!
It was also Ethan's debut as a ring bearer for our friend's wedding. Below is a very blurry choppy video of him walking down, but it tells you how it went.




He didn't make it down the asile. He did great at rehersal, but I guess there weren't 400 people watching him. There was point down the asile that I had him in the air pretending to walk, but that didn't last. At least no one will ever forget that part of the wedding...
Finally, we have been spending our sunny warm days outside. We have gone on many walks around the neigbourhood and to the dog park. We've bought Ethan a little picnic table so that he can sit outside and of course brought out the little pool which he loves splashing around in. I see a summer full of backyard playing and to the parks. Bring out the sunscreen!

Sick! Blah...

What a week, and it's still going...

It all started early last week when I first started noticing that my throat was starting to hurt. Then my nose was running and then it hit, a head/sinus cold. The worst part of it all was that I needed to be at work as my partner was off and I had to be there to do some corporate teachings for the organization. By the time Wednesday hit, I was hit hard with the cold and I knew I had to do a full day of teaching. So thinking that I needed to be alert and somewhat presentable, I decided to take 2 of my sinus pills. As I swallowed my 2nd pill, it dawned on me that I just took the wrong pills. Instead of taking my blue color daytime sinus pills I took the white color night time pills! There was nothing I could do, it was done and down the tube. I arrived at work at about 7:30am and knew the drug had not affected me yet. As I got ready for my day, I started walking towards the Auditorium when I noticed that my legs started to feel like jello, then the hallway started to "move" and I could not walk in a straight line. I made it there and set up what I needed to do with a lot of effort. I made it then to my Administrator's office and sat down hard. Asking me what was wrong, I told them my mistake I made that morning with the pills and they were quite concerned. (I forgot to mention that I had already written a quick e-mail to the pharmacy group explaining my situation and if I could do anything or take anything to retro act my handy work) It's great having fellow managers that are either nurses or doctors. They first scolded me for even taking 2 pills since I'm not a very big person (even though I told them that the only reason I took 2 was because in my head, I knew I needed to be alert) then thought of what I could do. They decided that the best thing I could do was first, eat, then down a coke (not diet), to get the caffeine and sugar in my system. Well, it somewhat worked. I managed, though I'm afraid I may not have made too much sense nor would I ever say that was my best teaching presentation ever. The drugs did start wearing out at about 1pm, but by then, I was too afraid to take my day time pills in case something else goes wrong.
I'm getting better now, but Ethan got what I got which started last Friday for him. Poor guy, we can't give him anything for his cold so a lot of "Puffs" and Q-tips. He's slowly getting over it as well. I just can't believe that Wackie never caught it, but probably because he's on shift work.
Now if I could only get some solid sleep while I'm on-call...5 more days...

Happy April Fools Day!

Yes, it's April's Fools Day today and I can't think of any funny tricks to play on anyone... though I'll always remember the time a classmate of mine played a huge trick on me in University. We had worked together on a group project for one of our classes and had at that time, already submitted it in. At the start of the class, my classmate asked if I received the e-mail from the prof indicating that he needed to talk to us after class that day. Having not received it, ,my classmate went on to say that it had to do with the part of the project that I did... none the less, I was nervous and panicking all class. After class, as I prepared to go down to meet with the prof, my classmate turned to me and said, "Happy April Fool's Day!" Oh I was so mad, but more mad that I even fell for it! Don't worry, I laughed it off, gave him a huge punch and to this day, remember it as one of the best April Fools tricked played on me.

Anyway, time has sure been flying and our family has been busy with birthday parties, 1 Month celebrations, get together, work conferences and family time out. Ethan has been learning new words almost every week and has quite a few words under his belt now, though he may not share with you all of them, he'll blurt them out here and there. His new phase of things right now is "Fish" to say and see. We visit pet stores so that he can look at the fish, or hit up WEM to see the Koi fish by T&T or the big aquarium by the ice rink. We'll probably get his own fish soon, but not quite yet. He has grown taller as well, as he can now easily dunk his basketball in his basketball hoop in the basement. When we first set it up only a month ago, he struggled to get it over the hoop, but now, it's not a problem. He has also mastered climbing up on furniture and is quick in climbing anything he can. We're looking forward to warmer weather so that we can explore Edmonton's festivals and attractions. We also booked our tickets to see Thomas & Friends down in Calgary as Ethan knows and can pick out Thomas wherever we go. That will be fun, hopefully, it will be a nice day. We'll get to actually ride on Thomas and meet some of the other characters as well. Pretty exciting seeing that the whole exhibit and trains only travel to 3 cities in Canada.

Anyway, I better rest up a bit too as tonight is another dinner out for another baby's 1 Month celebration, and tonight, I'm on my own...

P.S. in a few months, we hope to share with you all some exciting news...

Remembering Dad

I received a call from my mom on February 08, 2009 while I was in Calgary. She informed me that dad had passed away which was a great surprise to me. Even though he had gone through a stroke in 1998 and a lung cancer scare in 2002, things were going well for him. Needless to say, it was hard to hear it from my mom. Dad loved to listen to Chinese Opera and went quite often and this is where God decided to take him back to heaven.

On February 16, 2009 we laid dad to rest in Vancouver. It was a hard time leading up to the memorial but as the day approached God provided me with great peace as I read the eulogy. I am comforted in the fact that dad accepted Christ as his Saviour after he had his stroke in 1998. Dad had made a great impact in his family`s and friends life through his positive attitude. His laughter was loud and he laughed at almost anything (even though we may not have thought it was funny).

Thanks dad for all you have done for us to make our lives better! We love you and will miss you.

Your son

The Christmas Story

From our family to yours, wishing you a Merry Christmas

Ethan and Kona by the Christmas tree

Ethan Christmas morning, having his toast by the Tree with all the presents still wrapped.

A Huge Thank You to all our family and friends who have spoiled Ethan once again this year.
Ethan will have so much fun playing with all his new toys, wearing his crazy cool new shoes and drinking from his way cool sippy cup. We promise he will share his toys with the other little ones.

Wishing you and your family and very Happy New Year!

Cheers to 2008! It has been a fantastic year.

Our first trip to the ER

Well, it was bound to happen one day and it happened this weekend. Our very first trip to the ER! We were just getting ready to head out the door to go swimming at the Waterpark for Wackie's Christmas party and Ethan tripped. He had walked into the bathroom where I was getting ready and tripped on our bathmat. He fell and hit corner of our ceramic tile leaving a nice indent and gash on his forehead. He only cried for a short bit and stopped as soon as I picked him up. I decided to call Health Link just in case though he seemed okay beside the goose egg that came up very soon after his fall! Since it took so long to get through, we had already arrived at the Waterpark when I got through and the nurse advised me to take him to the ER due to that indent (soft head). So we turned around and headed to the ER. The nurse and doc was so nice there. We were there probably for only 10 minutes while everyone else had been waiting for a long time! It must of been Ethan's smiles and flirting nature to the nurses ;) They checked him out right away and sent us home. No stitches needed and the boy was happy to go to the Waterpark after all. I'm thinking this is not going to be the last trip out to the ER. He does not appear to be afraid of anything!

Owie!

Ethan had to put on a baby's hospital gown. It was so sad to see him wear it, but it was too cute to resist a picture.